Victoria Miramonti is All Around Small Animal Showman of 2014

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July 14, 2014 - 12:39pm

On Friday morning, six small animal showmen represented their barns to compete for all around showman at the LaGrange County 4-H Fair and Victoria Miramonti showed her way to the premiere showman title.

The small animal showman had to be able to show the following animals: dogs, llamas and alpacas, pygmy goats, poultry, rabbits, and cats.

Miramonti was the representative of the Dog Club this year. Each club representative must show all other animals except their own.

The other representatives were Casie Shoemaker with rabbits, Erin Frain with llamas and alpacas, Madalyn Newby with pygmy goats, Zoe Lehmer with poultry, and Kennedy Myers with cats.

At the end of the show, each showman received a personalized duffle bag before Miramonti was announced as the all around showman for 2014. She received an embroidered chair for being the winner.

Miramonti was not new to the all around competition. She has competed in the all around show for six years and shows many of the small animals regularly at the LaGrange Fair. It is her eighth year in 4-H and she is a member of the Horse and Pony Club.

A lot of work went into preparing for the all around showman competition for Miramonti. She studied until 3 a.m. the night before the show and also met with all of the other competitors to work with each other’s animals.

When Miramonti heard that she had received all around showman, she was honored.

“It’s an honor actually,” she said. “It shows that I worked really hard and put a lot of effort into it. It’s not just an easy thing to do.”

She knew that she didn’t just achieve the award on her own. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my family and friends,” Miramonti stated.

Even though Miramonti has shown many of the animals, she found the poultry portion of the show to be the most challenging. “Chickens and I don’t get along,” said Miramonti when she was talking about why poultry was the most challenging.

On the opposite side of things Miramonti had the most fun showing the llamas. She said the llama project is one that she had been working with for a long time.

Miramonti wanted to encourage people to work toward the all around showman competition. “Smile and always look at the judge. It’s all about fun and learning,” she said.